UPDATED 10/30/2016 – by Hector Garcia CPA
From an Accountant’s perspective, saving time is the single most valuable feature of a bookkeeping/accounting software. I will praise Intuit for adding the following godsend features that were directed at us in the past couple of years:
From an Accountant’s perspective, saving time is the single most valuable feature of a bookkeeping/accounting software. I will praise Intuit for adding the following godsend features that were directed at us in the past couple of years:
- Batch Enter Transactions: introduced in QuickBooks Accountant 2013, amazing, super fast way of entering checks or deposits from a spreadsheet
- Client Date Review – Batch Reclassify: there is no other timesaving tool ever added to QuickBooks in the past 15 years like this one. I can truly thank intuit for hours and hours of saved time
- Reconciliation Discrepancy Report: what a great way to find why the beginning balances issues.
- Accountant Toolbox: the ability to unlock all Accountant-only tools in any version of QuickBooks 2015 for ProAdvisors
- Comments on Reports: now we have the ability to add comments to the reports that pertain to any account or balance, you can even use this to append a long disclaimer
But, we need more tools! I will add more suggestions as I get more feedback from other Accountants, please email me suggestions hector@garciacpa.com if you think of additional ACCOUNTANT-CENTRIC new features to add. I have another article about ALL wishlist new features I have for 2018 and beyond. But here are the QuickBooks new features wish list for Accountants:
On Data Entry & Write-up
- Side-by-Side Online Banking: I actually timed myself and a few staff members on the same exact case with new Bank Feeds in QB2014 vs. Online Banking in QB2013 and the old way was faster by 20%. I think you should bring it back at least as an option.
- Quick Add Shortcut: When creating a new vendor in the check register I must go through 2 windows (QuickAdd vs. Create and Vendor/Customer/Employee/Other) I believe there should be a hot key like CTRL+ENTER that by passes those two and QuickAdd’s a Vendor on the Fly. You can even make it QuickAdd as Other Name, and then we can manage what we convert it to. Also when creating a new account, the name shortcut creates it as an “Expense” then the Acct. can go back and organize the COA later on
- Default Class by Bank Account: many clients asks us to do accounting by class, and 90% of times the clients as the classes separated by originating bank account. If we have have QB default a class based on which Acct is Writing the check from or making the deposit to, that would speed up that process.
- Customizable Columns on Bank Register, would be nice to choose what you want to see on the bank register (Date, Payee, Account, and Debit/Credit are mandatory.. but Ref#, MEMO, Customer:job, and CLR should be optional) this will allow the accountant to create their own style of data entry and avoid hitting unnecessary tabs. Also, there should be an option to TURN OFF auto check numbers added to the ref when doing data entry on the register, it is too time consuming to have to hit delete every time; nowadays much more transactions are electronic vs checks.
- Within Batch Enter Transactions, there should be an option that if selected, Invoices with both the same Customer Name and Invoice Number, import as single invoice instead of two. Also we need Batch Enter Transactions for all transaction types, must desperately, journal entries
On Reporting & Financial Statement Preparation
- Cash/Accrual Toggle: When the use clicks on the word Accrual or Cash on the top left of the report, the report should toggle, or just add a “Switch Basis” button. Reports on both basis are important for comparison
- Cash Vs. Accrual Comparison Report: This is a unique concept, everybody I explain it to loved it. We need a report that shows the P&L (and Balance Sheet) with two columns one in Accrual Basis and one in Cash Basis, and a third column with the difference in either $ or %. This analysis is great for companies choosing their tax treatment
- Additional Accountant Reports, we need the following reports to be there a default: Open Undeposited Funds, Uncleared Bank Transactions, Fixed Asset Transactions (this would have just the transactions that affected any Fixed Asset Transaction during a period)
- Default Columns on Detail Report: Transaction Journal (CTRL+Y) should have the Entered/Last Modified and Modified By Columns; and all Transaction detail columns should have “Source Name” as a default column, sometimes I forget to add it and send a client a report with Job Names where vendor should be.. very confusing
- Default 1-page Wide: sometimes we forget to check the box and make PDF reports for clients and having the balances on a second page is a nightmare
- Process Multiple Reports: should add Excel as a function that creates all the reports in a single workbook with multiple sheets in batch. Sometimes this is much faster than having to use Statement Writer.
- CTRL+ and CTRL- should increase and decrease all the fonts 1 point automatically
- Horizontal Collapse: we need to be able to collapse Customers in a P&L by Customer:Jobs or Classes in a P&L by Class.
- On Transaction Detail report, we need Total by: Customer:Job, Customer, and Job as three different options. Also need Total by Other Name, Vendor/Other Name, and Vendor/Employee… very ofter clients mix-up vendors, other, and employees and is difficult to create a report of this kind. We also need a Column for Job, separate than name… sometimes we need to sort by job name without regard of the customer’s name, for example when using job numbers
On Reconciling & Troubleshooting
- Group/Filter: in the reconciliation screen, we should be able to group transactions by type, also be able to group CHECKS by the ones that have numbers and the ones that do-not (to simulate most bank statements that separate Checks from electronic debits). Also ability to show/hide certain transaction types.. and a checkbox that HIDES checked transactions <- this would be huge!. Subtotals by transaction type would be useful too.
- Reconcile and New button, most of the times we are reconciling 12 months all continuously.
- After Reconciling, the transaction should carry a tag somewhere on when it was reconciled and which period (statement) was reconciled under. Maybe we can have QB create a Memo or maybe a new field of some sort.
- Deposits and Transfers need to say CLEARED as well.
- We need Mark All / Unmark All on EACH side, one in the Deposits and one in Payments
- We need a column that shows the lighting bolt to tell us wether or not that transaction was downloaded or matched; this is also help reconcile so much faster
- Need a Shortcut key for creating deposits and bank transfers, when reconciling, if a check/payment is missing, we have CTRL+W, but for deposits and transfers we have to go the long way. I would even add an option to quick create a Check or Deposit inside of the reconcile window with just 3 boxes: Date, Payee, Amount. <- This will also speed up data entry requirements during reconciliation stage.
- Ability to bring back a deleted transaction that shows in the Reconciliation Discrepancy Report, i understand that not all deleted transactions can be brought back, but at least one previously reconciled.
- Built-in remote support function that the client just hits a hotkey like CTRL+F5 and a 6-digit code shows up, gives it to the accountant that has QuickBooks Accountant Plus (or ProAdvisor Subscription) can login to the clients QuickBooks file and troubleshoot in minutes.
On Journal Entries & Client Data Review (CDR)
- Copy/Paste capabilities from a spreadsheet into GJE we need desperately! It needs to work the same way it works as the Batch Enter. Copy and Pasting General Journal Entries will bring a whole new slew of accountants into the QuickBooks world. There are so many spreadsheets we are already getting from clients and other systems. It is incredible we have to use a 3rd party system for this.
- We need a CDR tool called: Adjust Balance Sheet. Basically it shows the current Balance Sheet at the end of the period and it has boxes next to it that simply allows the accountant to either increase/decrease the amount or just put the final number in there. At the end, the system generates a GJE that just adjusts it period. Many, Many Accountants that do just tax, need to match up the Tax Returns’s Balance Sheet with QB as an initial task, and this is immensely time consuming, and because of this.. many accountant just opt to use their own write-up software and ignore the client’s QB file which is a huge disservice and tons of Double Data Entry. This tool could also be called Trial Balance Adjustment, and you can change the balance and p&l effectively. Note: this may not need to be a new feature.. maybe you can just add this capability to the Working Trail Balance tool in the CDR.
- Find & Select Accounts feature inside General Journal Entry, Write Checks, Enter Credit Card charges, and Enter Bills. Similar to Find & Select Items where all the items can be easily sorted and checked to be used… would be good to have that but with Accounts
- Tagging Transactions, this is my own personal idea.. we need a shortcut, say: CTRL+ATL+A that adds a TAG to the transaction that labels it “Ask Client” somewhere. Then at the end of the Accountants review, lets say he tagged 30 transactions, then he can print a report called “Transactions to Ask Client” and send it to the client in excel or pdf, then after all the transactions are discussed, the acct. can untag them or tag them “Reviewed by External Accountant” with another shortcut. Maybe this can be part of the Collaboration Tool introduced in 2014.
- Items in Journal Entries, this is kind of an advanced feature, but would be nice to have the ability to use an item (instead of an account) as an option to adjust items.
GO TO PART 1 OF THIS ARTICLE: QuickBooks 2016 Wishlist
and Part 3: QuickBooks 2018 and above wishlist
I also want to make it clear, some of these things can be added to QuickBooks Online for Accountants (QBOA) as well!
